What every entrepreneur needs to know about starting a business

Greg.Livadas@rit.edu (Greg Livadas)

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 - 10:03am

Got a great idea? Great, but ideas themselves rarely come to fruition. Ideas need plans. Plans that answer the questions owners, partners and investors want answered. This is your opportunity to learn from the best around how a good idea sparks a great business plan, and vice-versa.

A two-hour session that walks budding entrepreneurs through the process will be held 6-8 p.m. Thursday, March 28, in RIT's Student Innovation Hall. Tickets, which include refreshments and snacks, are $20 for Digital Rochester members, or $25 for non-members.

Speakers will be Bob Kot, managing director of New Ventures at High Tech Rochester, and Rich Notargiacomo, director of Business Development at RIT's Venture Creations. They are co-authors of the newly-published Rochester/Finger Lakes Business Plan Guide for Technology Companies. But their expertise is not limited to the high-tech sector.

In their presentation, Kot will ask and explain the questions that every start-up must be able to answer if they are to be successful. Notargiacomo will explain the ins and outs, the whys and whats of their newly published business plan guide and how entrepreneurs of all kinds can use it to their best advantage.

Their presentations will be followed by a question and answer session.

"Digital Rochester is pleased to bring these two experts together for this presentation," says Lisa Doerner, president of Digital Rochester. "In our joint efforts to boost entrepreneurship in the Rochester region, we believe this session will help and inspire the many new and would-be entrepreneurs out there, no matter what their business idea might be."